Controls: Moving the Rev controller simulates moving a mouse on a PC RTS, with the A/B buttons working as the left & right mouse buttons. The D-pad is used to group selected units into teams. The start button brings up the pause menu (save game, quit game, adjust brightness [as if that ever makes a difference], etc.). The select button brings up a C&C-like menu of units & structures you can build. The a/b & Home buttons don’t do anything as of yet.

The control stick attachment is used to control the commander character. The commander is a special unit who is basically who you are playing as in the game. Controls for the commander resemble that of standard platformer controls (am I using that word too much?). Moving the stick in any given direction moves the character, Z1 makes him jump & Z2 makes him attack.

More on the Commander Units: The death of the commander will result in game over, however he provides boosts in stats to nearby units & is a powerhouse in his own right so you may want to take him into battle at times. There are at least 3 commanders to play as for each faction. At the start of a mission or multiplayer game, you select which 1 you want to play as. On some maps the other commanders may be found hidden somewhere, if you find them, you can choose to play as them instead of your starting character by walking up to them & pressing Z1. Mind you, neither of them can be allowed to perish & your only controlling 1 at a time, so there’s an increased risk of losing.

Gold coins: Gold coins are the only resource (well, other than people’s lives) to worry about in the game. Any unit may grab them & they’ll instantly be added to your stockpile with having to ferry the unit back to base. With base/unit building taking the Command & Conquer approach, this eliminates the need for worker types & hopefully keeps the games at a fast pace. Keeping in tradition with past Mario games (or Total Annilation & WC3, take your pick), coins will pop out of fallen units & may be picked up by anyone.

Power ups: Commanders can find items in ? blocks that’ll help them out.
10 coins: Self-Explanatory.
Super Mushroom: Doubles all their stats except speed & HP (the later is only increased by 50%)
Star Man: Makes them invulnerable for a short time.
Fire Flower: Gives those that don’t have a ranged attack a new fire blast technique.
Cape: Gives flight to those that don’t already fly.
1-up: Rare chance of appearing. Will resurrect a commander if he dies later on.

Civilians: In most campaign missions & less than half the multiplayer maps are local towns for at least 1 of the involved sides. If there’s a village on your side, then it’s kinda your civil duty to protect them. Civilians do have ways of repaying you for helping them out.
Adult male: Might take up arms against anyone attacking his home, but goes back to a normal life when the attacks over.
Adult female: May give stat boosting or HP restoring baked goods to the troops.
Child: Mostly helpless.
Town mayor: May donate a large sum of coins to you on behalf of the village.
Royal guards: only in mission featuring castles. They’re elite troops dedicated to protecting their keep & their ruler.
Toad houses: The dwellings of the locals. The frighten will bunker up in these.
Hospital: Will always offer complete medical aide to any hurt infantry units (including the commanders).
Bank: Destroy the enemy’s bank to steal a lot of coins.
Jail: Destroying the enemy’s will set free a small number of basic infantry & possibly a commander (don’t ask how they got there to begin with).

Those last 2 buildings open up possibilities in what strategies you can use. Go for a big assault on the enemy’s town maybe you’ll destroy enough of it to cause mission failure for him or use small strategic strikes to gain resources that’ll help in your long-term plans. Note that most multiplayer maps come with an option of whether or not it’ll even have civilians.

Factions: There are 3 main factions (who each have their own campaign) & additional unlockable factions that are only playable in skirmish & multiplayer. For now, I’ll spare you the extensive list of every unit & building.

#1 Mushroom Militia
Story: For centuries, the Mushroom People have prided themselves on their peaceful ways. But for years now, they’ve faced many attacks from the likes of Bowser & his Koopa Troop. The kingdom became split on the issue of whether or not to properly defend themselves or if they should even go on the offensive against Bowser. Just recently, a compromised has been reached by opposing parties. A militia will be organized but only in times of dire need. However, the toads would be calling upon the militia much sooner than they expected…
Pros:
-Best ground units
-Toughest commanders.
Cons:
-Worst (& least) air units.
-Low population cap.
-1 commander is available only on specific maps.
Commanders:
-Captain Jon T. A toad hailing from Rose Town. He was the captain (& only member aside from his yoshi) of the town’s police force. He gives a major boost in the defense stat to allied units he’s close to.
-Mario. The famous hero doesn’t show up until a few missions into the MM campaign. He gives an attack boost.
-Luigi. Gives an increase in the rate of attack to his comrades, effective accomplishing the same thing as Mario but in a different way (as it should be with the bros.)
-Sky Pop Mario: Available only in Sky based maps, He gives boosts to all stats but only to air units.
Note worthy NPCs:
-Chief Toadser, a noble who has overall command of the Militia. He’s the most vocal of those in favor of aggression towards the Koopas.
-Peach. Yes, she’s going to get kidnapped, what else is new.

#2 Koopa Troop
Story: Bowser didn’t take too well to hearing the news about the MM. Fearing that they might make global domination too difficult for him, he plans to dismantle them before they become too large & powerful.
Pros:
-Best sea units.
-Highest pop cap.
-Most powerful base defenses.
Cons:
-Weakest ground units.
-Overly complex tech tree. Inferior commanders.
Commanders:
-Bowser Jr./Shadow Mario. He’s Jr. in the cut scenes, Shadow Mario during gameplay. Makes other units move faster.
-Bowser. Big Daddy himself. Gives average boosts to both attack & defense.
-Kammy. Every 5th attack from allied forces has a chance of stunning their targets.
NPCs:
-The other Koopalings. They mainly serve as bosses to the other 2 factions.

#3 Four Kings Alliance
Story: General Guy, Goomba King & Big Bom-Bomb are fed up with Bowser’s constant failures & the many, shy guys, goombas & bom-bombs that died because of them. Feeling that they can do better, the 3 of them revolt against their former master. They later join forces with Tatanga, thus forming a 3rd side in the coming conflict.
Pros:
-Best air units.
-Most commanders.
Cons:
-Worst sea units & base defenses.
Commanders:
-General Guy. Ground armor & shy guys get increased HP.
-Big Bom-bomb. Bom-bombs have a larger blast radius when they self-destruct.
-Tatanga. Air units get increased speed & firepower.
-Captain Shy Guy. Pirate from a Mario Party title hired by General Guy to help improve the 4KA’s meager naval forces. Captain Shy Guy provides large boosts to all stats but only to 3 naval units at a time.
-Wario. A greedy merc hired by Tatanga to take down rival commanders. Units (all of them, not just the player’s) sprout more coins when they die when he’s around. Wario himself fights more effectively against other commanders.
NPCs:
-Goomba King. Mainly in charge of the 4KA’s civilian population.

Terrain
The many campaign & multiplayer maps are divided into 9 different kinds of terrain. Maps with the same terrain also share common characteristics like general amount of coins, rarity of power ups & how dangerous the local monsters (hostile NPCs) are.
Grass: A nice relaxing area with lots of hills & question blocks & not so many monsters. This is the main home of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Desert: Harsh sandstorms can cause gradual damage to organic units. The local monsters are also more dangerous here. There’s very little water here, which is probably why the 4KA has their main base here.
Water: Pretty much the opposite of Dessert. There are no land-based monsters here.
Giant: Like Grass, only bigger (you really shouldn’t pick a fight with the monsters here!)
Sky: Battles are fought on big, flat clouds. Ground units will need air transport to get from 1 cloud to another.
Ice: The slipperiness of the icy floor can make moving units tricky.
Pipe: Huge pipes block off sections of the maps, forcing player’s to use warp pipes with unknown destinations. Piranha Plants often lay in wait to ambush units.
Dark: The home field advantage to the Koopas. Monsters are very dangerous here & coins & power ups are relatively scarce.
Castle: A specialty terrain for missions inside of an enemy’s fortress. They tend to be full of traps & guards.